Commission narrows budget figures, schedules special budget meeting after public hearing

Mercer County commissioners reconvened their budget review during a public hearing and subsequent regular session and agreed to follow up with a special meeting to finalize numbers.

Commission discussion focused on salary “bump-ups” for targeted positions, a countywide $2-per-hour proposed increase for some positions, and how overtime and retirement/benefits lines are calculated. Commissioners and staff identified discrepancies between the preliminary budget numbers and the most recent worksheet; staff said they would correct calculations and re-issue the updated sheets.

The board confirmed one departmental pay change raised during the meeting: the road office requested a 50-cent increase for an administrative staff member; commissioners agreed to include that request for further review. Commissioners discussed whether retirement and FICA/Medicare calculations should include overtime and asked staff to separate regular wage columns from overtime amounts to make retirement and benefit calculations auditable and transparent.

After the public hearing on the final budget closed, commissioners set a special budget meeting for Monday, Oct. 6, at 8:00 a.m. to review corrected worksheets and finalize appropriations. Staff committed to circulating corrected budget worksheets before that meeting and to print the packet for commissioners ahead of time.

During the budget hearing a member of the public asked how department purchases are approved and whether department heads must sign before purchases occur; commissioners confirmed department heads approve purchases within budget and that larger expenditures (over $5,000) require prior commission approval.